If it wasn’t for anti-Trump forces in the Nevada commission, Covington believes he would have won a 48-47 decision over Leon Edwards.
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, Leon Edwards picked Colby Covington apart on the feet to cruise to a 49-46×3 decision win (watch the highlights here).
Covington came into fight week practically frothing at the mouth, talking smack to everyone and using everything as fodder for his mealy mouthed insults. But when it came time for him to match that intensity in the cage, “Chaos” ended up going limp. His grappling attempts were sporadic and anemic. He never managed to chain together any of his famed wrestling. If he managed to pull off one advance, Edwards would negate it after.
Despite a half-decent fifth round where he ended up in top control after an attempted triangle attempt from “Rocky,” no one bought into Covington’s act when he raised his hands in victory following the fight. We have our doubts that Colby believed it too, but he laid out his argument during the UFC 296 post-fight press conference.
“I thought the third, fourth and fifth rounds were mine,” Covington said. “The fifth was mine, easily. Fourth, I thought was mine too, and I thought I did enough in the third. He didn’t put any damage on me. He got a couple of low kicks, but then I started checking them at the end. So I thought I had the win and did enough.”
“The judges never favor me,” he added. “They hate me because I support Trump, and everybody hates Trump in this building, so … it is what it is. Life goes on.”
Covington blamed the poor performance on ring rust and not listening to Donald Trump’s gameplan.
“He said ‘Let’s get on him, let’s get on him early. Let’s put that cardio on him early, you can take this guy down at will,’” Covington revealed. “It just took me a little bit to get going, my timing was not there early on. Leon was switching a lot to orthodox, I wasn’t expecting that as much, so it kind of switched up my game plan. I was planning on taking him down with that right leg and he was putting the left leg in the lead and I was confused.”
“It was a timing issue, I still thought I did enough, but God bless Donald Trump for everything he’s done for this country.”
Donald Trump leaving the arena in the middle of Colby’s speech
hayjivepicks pic.twitter.com/L3gcKyFcai— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) December 17, 2023
This is the third undisputed title fight in a row that Covington has lost. A media member asked him which one stung the most.
“They all hurt the same,” he replied. “They all sting, because I feel like I was right there, and I had what it took to win, but I just took my foot off the gas pedal and didn’t put it down as hard and believe in myself like I know I’m capable of doing. I don’t know. They all sting, they don’t feel good. They all suck.”
As for what’s next for Colby Covington? He kicked off his press conference appearance by calling out another defeated UFC 296 fighter: Stephen Thompson, who was submitted by Shavkat Rakhmonov earlier in the night.
“There’s a guy that’s been talking a lot of s— to me in the media: Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson,” Covington said. “Everybody thinks he’s a nice guy, but he’s had a lot to say about me, so I’d love to see him say that to me in the cage, in the octagon.”
“He was just saying some stuff before the fight — ‘Oh, he’s going to get his jaw broke,’ this and that,” he continued. “He’s always talking s—, throwing shade. So I’d love to see him say it to my face. He’s always got things to say to you guys in the media, but I’ve never seen him come up to me, face to face. We’re backstage at the press conference, he kept his head down the whole time.”
We think Thompson may have had his fill fighting power-wrestlers, but following that performance against Edwards there’s real questions as to whether Colby still has the drive and ability to drown opponents with his grappling any more.
For complete UFC 296 results, coverage and highlights, click HERE.